TennZip

I posted this article on all state selections under the women's soccer topic. It is also probably appropriate to post here under 2024 recruits. A young man from Revere was selected as Div. 2 player of the year. Dylan Halm had 33 goals and 11 assists as a senior. I do not know if he is good enough to play for Akron and if he has committed to a college. Cole Turchyn from Medina was selected first team all state. Again, I do not know if he is good enough to play for Akron and if he has committed to a college. St. Ignatius won its fifth straight state title yesterday in Division 1. They are traditionally a super power in Ohio High school soccer. When was the last time that the zips had a player from St. Ignatius on their men's soccer team? Nick Mikulec from St. Ignatius was selected as first team All State. St. Ignatius beat Cincinnati Moeller in yesterday's final (5-4 on PK's). Cincinnati Moeller was the #1 ranked team in all of America. Moeller had an incredible year. They were 24-0-0 and had not given up a goal in their last 23 games. The goal they gave up in the first game was on a PK. 24 games and they gave up no goals from the run of the play. I am sure that the zips had some coaches down in Columbus yesterday I am certainly not an expert on Northeast Ohio High school soccer. A name that I hope ....is on the zips radar for 2025 recruiting....is Revere Midfielder AJ Catlett. First team all state as a junior. 11 goals and 26 assists as a junior. From the little I know about NE Ohio HS soccer, I think that Catlett might be able to help in fall 2025. Revere obviously had a great team this year...with the Div. 2 player of the year - Dylan Halm and the talented junior - AJ Catlett. Revere lost in the state final 2-0 to a team from Tipp City (Tippecanoe). Tippecanoe had a junior on the team named Landon Haas. The Junior had an amazing year...33 goals and 26 assists...Amazingly, Landon Haas was only voted 2nd team all state. I hope that some of the young men on the All State teams are good enough to play for Akron and that they choose to play college soccer at Cub Cadet field. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/soccer/2023/11/11/ohsaa-all-ohio-boys-and-girls-soccer-walsh-jesuits-hannah-pachan-reveres-dylan-halm-nick-depompei/71518167007/

From what I can tell, the 2 best players on Walsh's teams this year are not seniors. The first article is from a few years ago. The 2nd link is an article from this morning's beacon...showing the all state teams for both boys and girls Walsh Junior Hannah Pachan was selected as the best player in the state for division 1. Ms. Pachan is a junior and she had 33 goals and 11 assists this year. Walsh had one other player selected to the second team all state. That player is also a junior. Her name is Reagan Pentz. Yes, that last name is familiar. Reagan's older sister , Morgan played for both Walsh Jesuit and the Akron zips. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/soccer/2022/09/03/ohsaa-walsh-jesuit-girls-soccer-reagan-pentz-hannah-pachan-look-to-lead-warriors-back-to-state-final/65411144007/ https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/soccer/2023/11/11/ohsaa-all-ohio-boys-and-girls-soccer-walsh-jesuits-hannah-pachan-reveres-dylan-halm-nick-depompei/71518167007/

the other day, fknbuflobo directed the group to read Gaucho Dan's Analysis on Big Soccer.com Gaucho Dan is the great Cal Santa Barbara fan...that created a real time RPI measurement page....that soccer fans from all colleges use.... Gaucho Dan has forgotten more about Soccer than I will ever know Gaucho Dan did a great post this morning....showing that the cut line....is currently at 36.....and he also shows the finals that could lower the cut line... he mentions Akron a few times in his post TennZip update to his post...only 1 game completed so far today...Yale won its Ivy league semifinal game. As I predicted on Monday, that helped Yale move up in RPI Yale moves up from 49 to 44.....This causes Akron to drop from 44 to 45 this would mean that Akron is the 6th team out of the mix....if there are no more upsets , Penn wins the Ivy League and if the committee strictly follows RPI Gaucho Dan post on big soccer.com Friday morning update Syracuse (rpi 28, 8-4-7) -- lost in ACC semifinals Oregon State (29, 7-5-5) -- will finish 2nd in Pac-12 Denver (rpi 30, 11-2-5) -- lost in Summit semifinals Pittsburgh (rpi 32, 6-6-4) -- lost in ACC 1st round San Diego (rpi 33, 10-4-3) -- host Gonzaga, tied for WCC lead UIC (rpi 34, 11-5-3) -- lost in MVC semifinals Kentucky (rpi 35, 7-7-4) -- lost in SBC semifinals Saint Louis (rpi 36, 7-4-5) -- lost in A10 1st quarterfinals James Madison (rpi 37, 8-4-5) -- lost in SBC quarterfinals California (rpi 38, 7-5-5) -- visit Stanford, will finish 3rd or 4th in Pac-12 Xavier (rpi 39, 9-3-5) -- meet Georgetown in BEC championship Penn State (rpi 42, 10-3-5) -- meet Indiana in B10 championship Akron (rpi 44, 9-2-7) -- lost in BEC quarterfinals Fordham (rpi 46, 6-4-7) -- lost in A10 quarterfinals Loyola Chicago (rpi 48, 8-2-5) -- lost in A10 quarterfinals Yale (49, 8-5-3) -- meet Harvard in Ivy semifinals For every team below the cut line, a team above the cut line must be dropped. So if you believe Akron, for instance, deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament, make a case for someone else NOT to make the Tournament. I think Saint Louis will probably get bypassed. Kentucky is probably in based on their October play and significant wins vs. SBC powers. UIC is really good, but they may not have the resume of the others. USD can win its way into the field, but that just pushes sure-thing Portland onto this list. Pitt could be snubbed...they played a tough schedule but performed poorly against it. Denver, OSU and Syracuse are in. Below the line, Cal, Xavier, Penn State and Yale still have opportunities to improve their fate and/or grab their conference's auto bid. James Madison has a strong conference resume but questionable out-of-conference defeats. Akron chose to play a weak non-conference schedule this season and it may cost them an at-large bid. Fordham and Loyola Chicago will not move up after losing in the A10 quarters. There are still 3 potential bid stealers out there, all in conference championship matches: A10: Dayton (69) at VCU (25) CAA: Monmouth (61) at Hofstra (9) OVC: UIW (165) at SIUE (41)

In late night action, #40 Washington played at Oregon State Washington and Oregon State played to a 2-2 tie. Washington stayed at 40 in RPI after a tie at #29 RPI Washington. Even though Washington is ahead of Akron (44) in RPI, Washington can not make the NCAA tourney as they ended the year sub .500 (5-6-7)

There have been upsets in conference tournaments and that is not good news for teams like Akron (that are ranked in the mid 40's for RPI) As of this past Monday morning, if there were no upsets and if the selection committee followed RPI exactly, the last team in the tournament would be #38 in RPI. Akron was #43 at the beginning of the week The Summit league was a league where every bubble team wanted Denver to win the title I wrote on Monday: Summit - Semis Nov. 9 #19 Denver 11-2-4 vs 134 Kansas City 60 Oral Roberts vs 151 Omaha Denver will be in tourney ...win or lose....an upset of Denver....would lower the last team in RPI Well, Denver lost this afternoon on PK's to #134 Kansas City Denver is now #30 in RPI so this is now a 2 bid league...Denver and the tournament winner The WAC was a league where every bubble team wanted Seattle to win the title. I wrote on Monday: WAC - semis on Nov. 8 17 Seattle 12-2-3 vs 136 UNLV 114 Utah Tech vs 73 Cal Baptist similar to Summit league, Seattle is in tourney...if they are upset, the #38 and #37 teams in RPI are in trouble Seattle lost yesterday to #136 UNLV Seattle is now #28 in RPI......so this is now a 2 bid league...Seattle and the Tournament winner. In the first big big East semis, Xavier defeated Providence 1-0 With today's win, Xavier's RPI improves from 49 up to 39 Akron RPI drops from 43 down to 44 In Big East games, Xavier now has a 6-1-3 record....only league loss was to Georgetown Akron record in Big East games is 2-2-5 Xavier had a 1-0-1 record head to head against the Zips If there are no more upsets , the last RPI team to get in....would be #36

Top Drawer soccer is showing that Akron women's soccer has added a new commitment for 2025 If I go back to a post that I did on October 9th, it looks like the most recent commitment is Addison Hall, a midfielder from Connecticut FC https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-soccer-details/women/akron/clgid-128/tab-commitments#sectionblock

wow, he did a lot more typing and work than I did.... this criteria is the one that will really help Xavier and really hurt Akron (0-2-3 in last 5 games) Late-season performance in last eight games (strength and results).

https://www.bigeast.com/news/2023/11/7/big-east-announces-2023-mens-soccer-regular-season-awards.aspx

After games were completed...as of October 29th, the zips were #30 in RPI. With the results of games played from October 30 to Nov. 3, the zips had dropped to #35 in RPI (before they took the field at Xavier).. The zips RPI percentage as of Saturday morning Nov. 4...was .5582 After losing to Xavier on Saturday night, the zips dropped to #38 in RPI RPI percentage dropped almost a full point down to .5488. Yesterday was not a good day for teams that played the zips during the season. The zips 3 strongest non league opponents were Notre Dame, FIU and Vermont. All 3 went belly up in their conference tournament quarterfinals. The zips really needed all 3 to win their leagues. Notre Dame was the top seed in the ACC tournament and they lost last night to #9 seed in ACC...Louisville. FIU lost in the American Athletic conference quarters to 5-7-3 Florida Atlantic Vermont lost in the American East conference quarterfinals to 6-7-4 NJIT as a result of those 3 tough non conference teams losing early, the ZIPS strength of schedule went down as of this morning, the RPI for the zips is #43 Zips RPI % is .5453 Davidson RPI is 44...they are still playing in their conference tourney...they would probably pass the zips with a semifinal win Yale is 47...they are still playing in their conference..they would probably pass the zips with a semifinal win From looking at the numbers, it looks like an RPI of 38 will be the last team in..... if there are 3 or 4 upsets in conference tourney, the last team could be an RPI of 34 or 35 23 conferences get automatic bids 25 at large selections. Pac-12 and West Conference are only 2 that don't do a tournament.... I will go alphabetically by conference....and then list the top remaining RPI teams....if the favorite wins the tourney numbers shown are RPI as of Monday moning American Athletic - semis on Nov. 9 28 Memphis vs. #4 SMU #101 Florida Atlantic vs #30 Charlotte 10-3-1 FIU is #27 and has 9-4-4 record conference will probably get 4 teams into tourney.... IF Florida Atlantic pulls off 2 more upsets, conference will get 5 teams American East - Semis on Nov. 8 #42 NJIT 7-7-4 vs #5 New Hampshire 124 Binghamton vs. #21 Bryant 14-1-2 Vermont is #24 and has 11-5-2 record if NJIT gets a non PK win over New Hampshire in the semis, I think that NJIT will get into tourney even if they lose in final to Bryant ACC - Semis on Nov. 8 14 Louisville vs. 26 Clemson 9 North Carolina vs. 22 Syracuse others certainly in tourney from ACC 2 Notre Dame 6 Virginia 12 Wake Forest 16 Duke 29 Pitt aCC will have 9 teams in tourney Atlantic 10 Semis on Nov. 8 85 Dayton vs. #44 Davidson 93 UMass vs #33 VCU 6-5-5 St. Louis is #35 ....lost on PK's to U Mass in quarters...St. Louis should make tourney unless there are 3-4 major upsets in the WAC, Colonial or Summit Fordham is probably on outside looking in for NCAA tourney...they are #45...lost 1-0 to VCU in quarters Atlantic Sun - semis tonight...1 bid league 141 Stetson vs 156 Bellarmine 129 Central Arkansas vs. 58 Lipscomb Big East - Semis November 9 55 UConn vs. #3 Georgetown #50 Xavier vs. #53 Providence Akron is #43 winner of Xavier vs. Providence could possibly pass zips in RPI with a semis win winner of Xavier -Providence game will have won 6 league games as opposed to 2 for Akron., if Georgetown wins the league, the Big east could only have 1 team in tourney Big South - Final Nov. 11 - 1 bid league 119 UNC Asheville vs. 88 High Point Big Ten Semis Nov. 8 56 Ohio State 6-6-5 vs. #39 Penn State 61 Michigan 5-5-7 vs. #32 Indiana on outside looking in...Northwestern led the league for most of year...they are 48 and won't make tourney Michigan State has very similar record to Akron 7-2-7....Michigan State also has win over Notre Dame Spartans are 59 in RPI If Indiana and Penn State win semis, they will both improve RPI Big West final Nov. 11 one bid league 67 UC Davis vs 70 UC Irvine Colonial final on Nov. 11 63 Monmoth vs. #8 Hofstra 12-3-4 Drexel is 49 with 9-2-5 record if Hofstra is upset in the final....that will lower the rPI for last team in ..as Hofstra will be in tourney Horizon semis on Nov. 9 - one bid league 157 IUPUI vs 127 Green Bay 161 Purdue Ft. Wayne vs 77 Oakland Ivy League - semis on Nov. 9 47 Yale vs 80 Harvard 105 Brown vs 41 Penn Penn and Yale should both rise in RPI with a win in semis Metro Atlantic - semis Nov. 9 - one bid league 52 Iona vs, 176 Manhattan 118 Siena vs 92 Rider Missouri Valley Conference - semis on Nov. 8 this is the league that W. Michigan, NIU and BGSU went to.....it will get more teams in tourney this year than the big east 98 N. Illinois vs. #20 Western Michigan 13-1-3 #34 UIC 11-4-3 vs. #23 Missouri State 10-2-3 if Northern Illinois were to win tourney, this league get 4 teams in Northeast Semis on Nov. 9 - one bid league 116 St. Francis vs. 160 Sacred Heart 112 LIU vs 91 Fairleigh Dickinson Ohio Valley Conference 183 Lindenwood vs. #46 SIU-E 14-0-3 197 Eastern Illinois vs 168 UIW SIU-E should win the tourney. If they did lose the finals on PK's , would the NCAA not give them a bid even though SIU-E would have no losses? if they lost finals on PK's , their record would be 15-0-4 Pac 12 - this is a league with no tourney 13 UCLA has 19 points with 5-0-4 record....one last game against San Diego State 25 Oregon State has 16 points with 4-1-4...they host Washington in last game 38 Cal plays at Stanford....if they win...Cal will jump in RPI 18 Stanford 40 Washington Washington is 5-6-6 and plays at Oregon State... if Washington ties or loses, they are sub .500 and won't make tourney if they get a straight out win, they will rise from #40 in RPI Patriot League - Semis Nov. 7 - one bid league 138 Colgate vs 79 Boston U 128 Lafayette vs. 62 Loyola MD So Conference - finals nov. 11 - one bid league 153 Mercer vs. 83 Furman Summit - Semis Nov. 9 #19 Denver 11-2-4 vs 134 Kansas City 60 Oral Roberts vs 151 Omaha Denver will be in tourney ...win or lose....an upset of Denver....would lower the last team in RPI Sun Belt - Semis Nov. 8 - super strong soccer league South Carolina was 5-8-3 before they upset top ranked Central Florida last night semis 101 South Carolina 6-8-3 vs. #7 West Virginia 13-1-4 #37 Kentucky 7-6-4 vs #1 Marshall 15-2-0 Kentucky has defeated West Virginia and Marshall in the latter part of the season other teams that could be in tourney Central Florida is now #10 in RPI after losing in conference quarters James Madison lost in conference quarters...they are #36 WAC - semis on Nov. 8 17 Seattle 12-2-3 vs 136 UNLV 114 Utah Tech vs 73 Cal Baptist similar to Summit league, Seattle is in tourney...if they are upset, the #38 and #37 teams in RPI are in trouble West Conference - no league tourney this is an interesting one...one league game left to play if San Diego stumbles in last game with loss or tie, Santa Clara could win league and 4 teams from WCC could get in 81 Santa Clara has 4-1-1 record in league 6-7-3 overall...plays Pacific 5-7-4 #31 San Diego is tied for league lead with 4-1-1 record 10-4-3 overall they play Gonzaga 3-8-6 San Diego beat Santa Clara 2-1...wins TB but if Santa Clara wins their game and San Diego ties.......Santa Clara gets NCAA tournament automatic berth #11 Portland is 4-2-0 and 11-4-0 ...they are in NCAA tourney our old friend Ryan Kingsford and Loyola Marymount are #15 in RPI...2-2-2 in league...at #15...LMU will get one of 25 at leage OK....what you want to see.......who will get 25 at large.... for all conferences....I assume that current Highest RPI teams wins tourney...I have UCLA and San Diego winning their leagues Atlantic coast conference - North Carolina is highest RPI team in semis 8 teams will get at large bids 1. Notre Dame - rpi of 2 2. Virginia 6 3. Wake Forest 12 4. Louisville 14 5. Duke 16 6. Syracuse 22 7. Clemson 26 8. Pitt 29 Pac 12 - assume that UCLA gets automatic berth 9. Oregon State - rpi of 25 10. Cal 38 - they could drop with loss to Stanford or go up with win 11. Stanford 18 Big 10 - assume that 32 Indiana and 39 Penn State play in finals...Indiana wins 12. Penn State - current rpi of 39...should improve if they beat Ohio State in semis if Ohio State and Michigan pull upsets in semis...Penn State is probably out of NCAA Sun Belt - super strong league...#1 Marshall is assumed to win tourney 13. West Virginia rpi of 7 14. Central Florida 10 15. James Madison 36 16. Kentucky 37 American East - a surprisingly strong conference...assume that #5 New Hampshire wins tourney 17. Bryant rpi of 21 18. Vermont 24 if #42 New Jersey Institute of Technology gets a clean win over #5 New Hampshire in semis (after NJIT upset Vermont in quarters), NJIT might get an at large bid even if they lose to Bryant in final West coast conference - I have San Diego getting automatic berth 19. Portland rpi of 11 20. Loyola MaryM 15 American Athletic - I have #4 SMU winning league 21. FIU rpi of 27 22. Memphis 28 23. Charlotte 30 Missouri Valley - I have #20 Western Michigan winning tourney 24. Missouri State rpi of 23 25. UIC 34 Atlantic 10 - I have #33 VCU winning league 26. St. Louis rpi of 35 Davidosn is currently 44...if they beat Dayton in semis and lose to VCU in league finals, Davidson should end the year higher than 44 I have listed 26 teams for 25 spots...as I do not know how #37 Kentucky, #38 Cal, #39 Penn State and #40 Washignton will do this week as I mentioned.....if these teams don't win their conference tourney, the last team in RPI will drop #3 Georgetown #8 Hofstra #17 Seattle #19 Denver what will committee do if #46 and undefeated SIU-E loses on tourney on penalties there will probably be upsets teams not shown in the 26 above......(could be on outside looking in) #40 Washington loser of #41 Penn vs. #47 Yale (if both win semis) #42 New Jersey Institute of Technology #43 Akron #44 Davidson (should improve with a win in A10 semis) #45 Fordham winner of #50 Xavier vs. #53 Providence (if winner loses to Georgetown in tourney final)

Credit to Coach Embick....for doing an interview....after a frustrating loss https://www.instagram.com/p/CzQVqWPstL4/

was not a straight red card. It was Ashton's 2nd yellow card. In my humble opinion, it was a garbage call. chubby ref has been awful all night. Akron player got mugged at the top of the box (no foul was called) and that led to Xavier goal chubby ref called few fouls in first half. 2nd half, everything is a foul ...with lots of yellows... chubby ref has had huge negative impact tonight on the game.

he has reffed at least one other Akron game this year... Someone is going to get hurt....as he is not calling enough fouls.....

I had the exact same problem....paying $29.95 per month and I missed 10 to 15 minutes of the game

Big East tourney results so far today in the noon game, top seed Georgetown ousted 8 seed Seton Hall 2-1 in the 4 pm game, 3 seed Providence leads 6 seed Creighton 3-0 at 81

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2023-mens-big-east-tournament-preview_aid52720

In the last 7 games, the zips have scored 10 goals in the 2nd half and 1 goal in the first half. Totally agree with zippy-claws that an early goal.......would be huge for the zips. I think it was 2 games ago...that both Josh Hallenberger and Ashton Kamdem had great shot opportunities and they both passed the ball inside to Shooky. Shooky has been phenomenal this year but other zips have great scoring ability as well. I think that 72 Roo pointed out in a post that Ashton Kamdem has a super strong left footed shot. As we've seen this year, Shooky is great at creating his own shot and scoring. Shooky can also be a very good scorer on rebounds. I hope to see some zips taking strong shots and Shooky scoring at least 1 goal when the keeper can't control a strong zips shot. Let's go, Zips !!!! Looking forward to seeing a 10th win on Saturday the 4th.

This is what the quarterfinals matchups look like....(when Sunday morning RPI's and records are included) Top Half of the Draw Georgetown vs. Seton Hall Georgetown is 6 in RPI overall record of 11-2-2 and 6-1-1 in leage Pirates are 63 in RPI Overall record of 8-5-3 and 3-4-1 in league St. John's vs. UConn Johnnies are 52 in RPI overall record of 8-3-5 and 3-1-4 in league UConn is 65 in RPI overall record of 8-7-1 and 4-4 in league Bottom Half of Draw Providence vs. Creighton Providence is 56 in RPI overall record of 7-5-3 and 4-2-2 in league Creighton is 99 in RPI ovcerall record of 4-6-6 and 3-3-2 in league Xavier vs. Akron Xavier is 62 in RPI overall record of 7-3-5 and 4-1-3 in league Akron is currently 35 in RPI overall record of 9-1-7 and 2-1-5 in league Akron was 27 in RPI before they tied a Butler team that had only won 2 games all year. Akron dropped 8 spots in RPI with a tie against #113 in RPI (Butler) If Akron loses in regulation or overtime at Xavier, I agree that they would probably drop to the mid 40's in RPI (Akron record would be 9-2-7) If the loss were to occur on PK's, Akron record would be 9-1-8...and the RPI drop would probably not be as steep as a straight out loss I view the game at Xavier as a must win for the Zips. If they lose in 90 minutes at Xavier, I do believe that the zips season is over. Georgetown is the only Big East team......that is certain of a spot in the NCAA tournament....even if they don't win the Big East tournament. The Big East is probably hoping for a Georgetown vs Akron final....as they are the 2 highest RPI teams. A Georgetown vs. Akron final would probably guarantee that the Big East would have 2 teams playing in the NCAA tournament. Practice your PK's this week, Zips. I have a feeling that PK's are in the future for the Zips in the Big East tournament.

I was impressed by the play of Jackson Herbert today. Mitch Budler made an outstanding save very late in the game.

Xavier pounds UConn 4-0 xavier is 2 seed Creighton ties st. johns Akron and Creighton are tied for 6th with 11 points Akron loses tiebreaker akron is 7 seed and plays at Xavier next saturday

Awful camera angle nice to see Jackson Herbert healthy and getting some playing time late in the half.

https://gozips.com/news/2023/10/27/mens-soccer-big-east-championship-seeding-on-the-line-as-no-10-akron-battles-butler lots of info in press release....that I normally don't see....rankings for shots per game, corner kicks per game, shots on goal per contest, etal..... FINAL SEEDING ON THE LINE FOR BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP With the final weekend of BIG EAST Conference regular season action on tap on Saturday, Oct. 28, the stage has been set for a tightly contested battle to determine the final seeding for the upcoming BIG EAST Championship, Nov. 4-12. On the strength of a 2-1-4 league mark, Akron has claimed a berth in the tournament. With a victory at Butler on Saturday (Oct. 28), the Zips will be seeded No. 2, 5, 6 or 7 depending on the outcomes of the other five league contests. An Akron victory coupled with a Xavier loss at UConn and a Creighton setback or draw at St. John's will give the Zips the No. 2 tournament seed and an outright Midwest Divisional title. Akron can also share the divisional title and be the No. 6 seed with a win and a Xavier draw and Creighton loss, while a win coupled with a Xavier draw and Creighton victory will secure the No. 7 seed for the Zips and a divisional crown. A triumph by the Zips in other scenarios is expected to result in a No. 5 seed for Akron.

Rankings this week Zips are ranked #10 by College Soccer News Zips are ranked #13 by United College Soccer Coaches Zips are ranked #14 by Top Drawer Soccer In RPI (as of 7:10 pm on Tuesday 10/24), the zips are #33 in RPI There are currently 7 Big East Teams that have currecntly qualified for Big East Tournament Zips are currently the 2nd highest ranked Big East Team (in RPI) Georgetown 7 Akron 33 St. John's 42 Providence 43 Connecticut 59 Xavier 72 Creighton 102 Akron's next game opponent, Butler is 122 Butler has a record of 2-7-5

https://thethirdsub.ca/2023/10/23/report-card-decision-day-deadlock/ Very high game rating for former Zip Richie Laryea Richie Laryea: 8 There was a reason LAFC players kept dragging him down in dangerous areas, threatened by his quick feet and growing link-up play with his midfield partners. The flanks were always going to be important in this and Laryea shone bright, particularly in the second half. This was perhaps his best match as a Caps player and he is kicking on at just the right time.

2 former star zips.......selected for the team of the matchday Richmond Laryea and the timeless Darlington Nagbe Darlington is now in his 13th MLS year. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/team-of-the-matchday-who-rose-to-the-occasion-on-decision-day